Please, Don’t Touch My Child’s Hair

Black and mixed-race children aren’t pets, so please don’t stroke their hair

Photo by Mieke Campbell on Unsplash

When my mixed-race children were younger, I often came across people who wanted to stroke their hair. More often than not, they didn’t even ask for my consent. I’d be in a cashier line at the grocery store, at an amusement park, or at the doctor’s office, and a white hand would suddenly dart out of nowhere to pet my yo…